Egypt opens Rafah crossing at Gaza border for three days

Sun, 03 Jan 2010

Cairo (Earth Times - dpa) - Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday for a scheduled three-day period, state-run newspapers reported. Palestinians with travel plans and visas for foreign countries would be allowed out, along with patients in need of medical care, Al-Ahram daily said.

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has generally been closed since 2007, when infighting between Palestinian factions raged, culminating in the Islamist Hamas movement taking over the territory.

Most recently, on December 23, Egypt opened the border for several hundred patients.

Gaza's only other crossing points lie along its border with Israel, which imposes a tight blockade on the territory.

Egypt's border with the Palestinian territory has been the source of protests recently, as hundreds of international activists marched on Rafah, demanding the authorities open the crossing point.

The Egyptian government eventually allowed 86 members of the group entry into Gaza.

Cairo has also come under increasing criticism for reportedly strengthening a wall along the border, with Palestinians concerned it might affect underground smuggling tunnels used to bring in basic supplies, such as food, but also weapons.

President Gül rules out prospect of coup in 2010

President Abdullah Gül, speaking during a live TV program broadcast on CNN Türk on Monday, said Turkey will not face the threat of a coup d’état in 2010.

The president was on the program “Tecrübe Konuşuyor” (Experience Speaks), co-moderated by journalists Hasan Cemal and Cengiz Çandar. In response to a question on whether Turkey would see a coup in 2010, Gül said: “This will never be the case. Such a thing would be disrespectful of the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK].”

The president also said he does not expect a military memorandum this year.

Asked for his views on recent commentary by some journalists and columnists about ongoing clashes between Turkey’s state institutions, Gül said there was nothing in Turkey that could be defined as “clashes between institutions.”

“I say this sincerely. Those who speak about such things [a clash of institutions] speak as if they did not witness the country’s recent political history. There may be problems stemming from different interpretations of authority, but we cannot call them clashes,” he said.

The president also touched on ongoing efforts by the government to settle the Kurdish question through a massive democratization package. “Turkey will experience more beauty. The days ahead will be more beautiful. We will get rid of problems by solving them. I believe in this. I believe in my citizens. I believe Turkey has grasped a historic chance to root out terror. A similar chance was grasped when [jailed terrorist leader Abdullah] Öcalan was captured, but Turkey missed that chance,” Gül said.

The leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was captured in 1999 in Kenya. He is currently imprisoned on an island near İstanbul.

In response to a question about the closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) by the Constitutional Court, Gül said: “I do not think the closure of political parties complies with my principles. What is correct is the correction of mistakes committed. Urging violence is wrong. I said I am against the closure of parties, but what can a court do about a party that says the PKK is its raison d’être?”

The DTP was shut down last month on charges of separatist activities.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-197593-101-president-gul-rules-out-prospect-of-coup-in-2010.html.

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference condemns Israeli excavations in Al-Quds

03/01/2010

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, condemned continuing excavations by Israel in the surrounding and underneath Al-Aqsa Mosque, which led yesterday evening to the collapse of part of the street linking the center of Salwan Village to Al-Aqsa Holy Mosque, 700 meters away from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Secretary General considered the continuation of the excavation a grave violation of International Law calling for a firm position from the international community and its institutions to deter Israel and prevent it from continuing such violations. The Secretary General also stressed that aggression against the place of the nocturnal journey of the Prophet -Peace be Upon Him- warns of serious repercussions, which requires united efforts by the Ummah to defend its sanctuaries subjected to violation and profanation.

The Secretary General sent a letter to UNESCO Director General on the matter and conducted a series of urgent calls with many international parties in order to put pressure on Israel to force it to stop ongoing excavations which endanger Al-Aqsa Mosque and jeopardize international peace and security.

Source: OIC-OCI.org
Link: http://www.oic-oci.org/topic_detail.asp?t_id=3174.

Nigeria criticises 'unfair' US air passenger screening

Tougher screening of passengers wanting to fly to the US has been condemned as unfair by Nigeria - one of the nations singled out for special checks.

Information Minister Dora Akunyili said the rules, brought in after a Nigerian allegedly man tried to blow up a plane, discriminated against 150m Nigerians.

Bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did not represent Nigeria, she said.

Nigerians are among 14 nations whose nationals face stiffer rules including body searches and luggage checks.

Four other African countries - Algeria, Libya, Somalia and Sudan - are also subject to the new measures.

It follows an alleged attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas Day.

US President Barack Obama has been under pressure to make visible security improvements.

But Ms Akunyili said 23-year-old Mr Abdulmutallab's act was a "one-off".

"Abdulmutallab's behavior is not reflective of Nigeria and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians," she said.

"He was not influenced in Nigeria, he was not recruited or trained in Nigeria, he was not supported whatsoever in Nigeria.

"It is unfair to discriminate against 150 million people because of the behavior of one person."

The BBC's Fidelis Mbah in Lagos says queues of people waiting to check in were longer than usual at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Monday after the new security directives came into effect.

He says extra officials had been deployed to search luggage and frisk passengers.

Nigeria has already said it has tightened its security measures since the alleged Christmas Day plot.

Security agents prevented our reporter from speaking to people in the queues.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8439824.stm.

Somalia: Harakat Al-Shabab Says Failed Ongoing Meeting of Ahlu Sunna in Central Region

The Islamist officials of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen have Monday said that they achieved failing the ongoing meeting of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a clerics in Abudwaq district in central Somalia.

Sheik Ali Mohamud Raghe (Sheikk Ali Dere), the spokesman of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen said that they failed the conference of Ahlu Sunna Waljama's meeting that continued at Abudwaq district in Galgudud region.

The spokesman said that their aim of the fighting in central Somalia was not seizing a place saying that they only aimed to disrupt the conference stressing they had successfully achieved their goal.

Sheik Ali Dere said that their forces entered the town forcibly and returned back peacefully as they reached their aims adding that their fighters were out of the town.

On the other hand Omar Sheik Mohamed Farah, the chairman of the Islamic administration of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a clerics in central Somalia disproved the statement of Harkat Al-shabab Mujahideen for disrupting the meeting of the clerics in the region adding that their conference was successfully concluded asserting that they had plans of war which he declined to explain more through the media.

Nevertheless, the contradicting statements of both officials of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen and Ahlu Sunna Walma'a comes just a day after heavy fighting between the two sides that left the lives of more people and injuries in central Somalia.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201001040564.html.

ANALYSIS - Algeria violence drops, Qaeda threat shifts south

By Lamine Chikhi

BOUMERDES, Algeria (Reuters) - An unprecedented lull in Islamist militant violence in Algeria suggests al Qaeda's North African branch is shifting its campaign of ambushes, bombings and kidnappings southward to the vast Sahara desert.

For the first time since the early 1990s when a full-blown conflict broke out between government forces and armed Islamists, Algeria is experiencing a five-month period with only one major attack by insurgents.

But analysts say the insurgents who operate as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have not been finally defeated. Instead they have been displaced to the Sahel desert region, incorporating parts of Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

"There is no longer an organization called Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," said Liess Boukraa, deputy head of the African Center for Studies and Research on Terrorism, a think tank funded by the African Union. "There is what I call Al Qaeda in the Islamic Sahel."

A growing al Qaeda presence in the Sahel is an additional worry for Western governments already concerned that the group is finding safe havens in Somalia and Yemen.

The response by governments in the Sahel is hampered by porous borders and a lack of troops and equipment to oversee a vast region containing few people but big reserves of oil, gas, uranium and other minerals coveted by the industrialized world.

Now a growing number of kidnappings of foreign tourists, aid workers and diplomats in 2009 has raised pressure on the region's governments to make good on promises to cooperate more in fighting Al Qaeda in the Sahara.

"This year will be a key test for what Algeria can do with its southern partners to tackle the expansion of these various groups in the frontier regions," said Anne Giudicelli, a Maghreb security expert at Paris-based consultancy Terrorisc.

"The Americans have started to put their nose in and the Europeans are going to get more involved -- a lot is riding on what happens in this zone," she said.

SAVORING PEACE

On Algeria's Mediterranean coast, thousands of kilometers (miles) north of the Sahel and home to the majority of the 35 million population, people are savoring relative peace after years of violence.

About 200,000 people were killed at the peak of the conflict in the 1990s, according to estimates from international non-governmental organizations.

Hundreds of people were killed in a series of suicide bombings in 2008 and as late as the first half of 2009, there were regular bombings and attacks on police or army convoys.

An ambush in October that killed 7 police was the only big attack since July. The coordinator of the United Nations' al Qaeda and Taliban monitoring team, Richard Barrett, noted the reduction in violence in the second half of 2008.

"Ramadan -- the last Ramadan in Algeria -- was the quietest Ramadan they'd had for 15 years," he said at a seminar, referring to the Muslim holy period in late August and early September which in past years had seen an upsurge of attacks.

Evidence of the change can be found in the Kabylie region, east of the Algeria capital which has for years been known as the "triangle of death".

The rebels used its inaccessible mountains as their main base and residents rushed home before dark to avoid getting caught up in attacks.

Now, girls kept away from school because their parents did not want to enrage radical Islamists have resumed their studies.

In a hotel in the Kabylie region town of Boumerdes, the lobby has a prominently signposted bar -- unthinkable a few years ago because the militants forbade alcohol.

The violence has not been stamped out. In isolated areas away from the capital there are sporadic attacks on governemnt targets.

In Algiers itself, several Western embassies last month stepped up their already tight security in the run-up to the Dec. 11 anniversary of a 2007 truck bombing of the United Nations office in the city.

Outside the U.S. embassy on the day of the anniversary, heavy vans and jeeps with diplomatic plates were parked across the entrance to stop any vehicles approaching.

However, most commentators say that the Islamist insurgency has been severely weakened.

"The loss of popular support has been the key factor behind AQIM's defeat," said Sheikh Yahya, a former regional commander of Islamist rebels in northern Algeria who surrendered in 2001 under a government amnesty.

"Secondly, several fatwas (religious orders) issued by well known and respected Islamic clerics encouraged fighters to lay down their arms," he told Reuters at his home in a village in the Bouira region, a former insurgent strong-hold.

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-45139720100104?sp=true.

Somalia: AU troops cautions Al-Shabab

The African Union troops in Somalia have on Monday sent warning massage to the movement of Al-Shabab.

“It is something very important for the Somali people to clearly understand why our forces are here in Somalia, we as peacekeeping troops and nothing beyond, we have no any other mission in Somalia, and whichever militant group aggressively attacks our troops, we shall not just watch what they are doing at us, but react if all means available” said Major Barigye Bahouku the spokesman of the African Union troops in Mogadishu speaking to Somaliweyn Website.

The fighters on Al-Shabab have some 2 days ago seized control of Dhusamareb town the headquarters of Galgadud region in central Somalia, after they have overpowered the fighters of Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama who were in control of the town.

But after heavy fighting between the two parts warriors the town has fallen back into the hands of Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama agin.

Al-Shabab has urged the Somali people to support their concept against the current government of Somalia and the presence of the African Union troops.

“The so called government of Somalia and the so called African Union troops are the vanguards of the western countries” said an officer in the movement of Al-Shababa.

According to a very genuine data collected by Somaliweyn Website more than 45 people have died in the battle between Al-Shabab and Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama including innocent civilians, and 70 were wounded.

Source: Somaliweyn.
Link: http://www.somaliweyn.org/pages/news/Jan_10/4Jan22.html.